Apple severs ties with Crimea-based app developers following U.S. sanctions

Apple has started sending notices of termination to registered developers based in Crimea, restricting them from creating or publishing apps on the App Store, as well as accessing the developer portal.

The termination, which is effective immediately, requires the developers to cease all use of the company software and destroy all confidential information that they might have obtained as a Registered Apple Developer (RAD).

"The new sanctions on the Crimea Region announced by the US Government on December 19, 2014 and announced by the European Commission on December 18, 2014 prohibit the continuation of the RAD Agreement between you and Apple," the Cupertino-based company said in the notice.

This means that the Crimean developers will have to wait for the sanctions to be lifted in order to regain access to the developer portal and the ability to publish apps. Or, as the report suggests, they could just change their address, for example, to a Russian or a Ukranian one, and they will again be allowed to join the RAD program.

The Crimean crisis is an ongoing dispute between Ukraine and Russia over the control of the Crimean Peninsula. In March last year, Russia annexed most of the disputed region from Ukraine, resulting in economic sanctions by the United States and the European Union.

The sanctions have had a terrible effect on the Russian economy. Due to the harsh devaluation of the Ruble Apple had to close its online store in the country last month citing "extreme fluctuations" in the local currency, although the company reopened it later with inflated prices.